the merchant of marvels and the peddler of dreams...4 october 2008 gratitudes

1. ate peanut butter pie from sugar sweet sunshine and macaroni and cheese from relish. two of my favorite guilty pleasure foods from two of my favorite restaurants.

2. observed the incredibly studied, impeccably dressed pre-teens lounging around the bakery. amy and i giggled over the stylistic differences between the new york youth and the rest of the country. good grief, when i was in junior high my greatest fashion triumph (which is debatable) would have been my pink pleather skirt suit from guess?...or perhaps my high heel sketchers. i really channeled cher from clueless. so shameful.

3. discovered a new favorite store luddite in brooklyn. amy merrick continues to lead me to swoon-worthy shops such as this one. a beautiful space filled with curiosities, military/naval memorobilia, medical equipment, old marriage certificates, and turn of the century furniture to die for. i could have bought everything in the store. i went with a mission to furnish my new home, but came away with two yummy hand-knitted hats. hand-knitted by the owner's girlfriend's grandmother in maine. sold.

... and i went to school with the owner's sister, angela scarola, at savannah college of art and design! what a charming small world we live in.

4. went to the chelsea flea market with coco and kristen after months, literally, of failed attempts( which i take full responsibility for). i was in heaven. beautiful treasures that i could afford! i keep running into the heartbreak of finding collectibles that are far out of my price range. y'all, new york is 'spensive! but i triumphantly came away with my arms full of old suitcases, a 1920s portrait of a little girl, tiny glass bottles(to store my sequins), a 1920s french chalkboard, a 1940s bronze gooseneck lamp, and the loveliest educational edition of le petit prince. heaven. thanks coco!

5. made progress in the unpacking of my life into my new apartment. sigh. i just want to blink and it be done with. i really do want to be a tidy little housewife and not a gypsy little girl. baby steps...

my lover, so far away...1 october 2008

The Quiet World

In an effort to get people to look
into each other's eyes more,
and also to appease the mutes,
the government has decided
to allot each person exactly one hundred
and sixty-seven words, per day.

When the phone rings, I put it to my ear
without saying hello. In the restaurant
I point at chicken noodle soup.
I am adjusting well to the new way.

Late at night, I call my long distance lover,
proudly say I only used fifty-nine today.
I saved the rest for you.

When she doesn't respond,
I know she's used up all her words,
so I slowly whisper I love you
thirty-two and a third times.
After that, we just sit on the line
and listen to each other breathe.

Jeffrey McDaniel

inspired by whitney johnson

you will know me by my trail of glitter... 1 october 2008

1. worked all day and all night(literally) on a special project with my sweet chelsea cook. will post photos of the result later on...

2. played with sequined fabric. i collected a cluster of stray sequins that i want to send to my mother. every time i visit my family they find sparkles hidden in the couch or sticking out of the carpet, like a bedraggled fairy whose costume is perpetually fraying. my mother has started to collect them all in tin cases and display them on the windowsill above her kitchen sink. and that makes me smile.

3. my newest ebay find came in the mail! she's a darling vintage, handmade ballet costume. i hope i have a daughter one day to pass my treasures to.

4. finally handed the keys to my old apartment over to the landlord. its officially over. hallelujah.

5. woke up to a text message informing me that the last clip on the rachel zoe project is of the marc jacobs after party, and there is a shot of me dancing with my friend john gardner. terrifying. anyone who knows me can attest that as much as i love dancing, i am equally as painful to watch! oh dear...

6. it is the 1st of october. i love me some fall and this marks the first of my three favorite months...october, november, december. i'm so excited!

goodbye moon...25 september 2008

goodbye old east village apartment. goodbye rats. goodbye bedbugs. goodbye ants. goodbye place where my beloved pink cruiser was stolen. goodbye 6th floor walk up. goodbye leaky washer and dryer. goodbye no place to sit. goodbye first apartment in new york city.


hello new lower east side apartment. hello half a flight of stairs. hello elevator. hello clean space. hello sugar sweet sunshine bakery. hello freeman's alley. hello teany. hello decorating project with amy merrick (who you should see is featured on domino magazine's website's deco file section). hello future home with me and pete. hello three's company. hello future marital home with my sweet eddie. hello love.

i can not wait to show you the progress. until then...

inspire me...16 september 2008 gratitudes

1. ran into lois smith on the street. she is the actress who plays sofia in how to make an american quilt. this is one of my absolute favorite movies and i love her character. sofia is sort of this crochety old woman who completely endears herself to the viewer by the end of the movie as her story is told. anyway, normally i try and be polite and pretend i don't recognize actresses because i don't want to be rude. and then sometimes i can't control that i'm a huge geek. this was one of those times. this poor sweet woman was just looking up bus time schedules and i totally confessed my love for her in this movie. i'm pretty sure i scared her. almost positive. i had on big heart glasses, a big goofy grin, and my grey hair was a hot mess. oh well...

2. found inspiration for my wedding via a cup of joe's photos from last weekend's jazz-age lawn party on govenor's island. how did i miss this?! more so, how was i not a young lady in this time?

3. went to my favorite local speakeasy little branch with peter, coco, and max. this is one of my favorite places to go after a long day with dear friends. its dimly light with a jazz band playing as waiters dressed in 1920s attire bring you sipping cocktails. i was introduced to this sweet spot by tracy rosenbaum who described their drinks as "bespoke cocktails made with love". spot-on description. order a "bramble" which is off the menu, and you will be quite happy. crushed ice and crushed fresh blackberries are involved. you won't be disappointed.

4. received an email from one of the dolls in au revoir simone. i'm a complete band-aid for these girls and to receive an email from erica made me smile from ear-to-ear. they are the most adorable package. cute girls in dresses and high waisted shorts with long hair singing sweet, catchy diddies. their songs are like nursery rhymes and lullabies for grownups. oh how i love them!

5. got a phone call from my amy merrick who happened to be in paula rubensteins, an amazing antique prop shop in soho while i was on the phone with one of the store's shopclerks. she said she thought she recognized my southern twang coming through the receiver. once she heard the man reply, "oh you're looking for mercury glass hat stands?" she laughed and called me right away at my store. i'm a sucker for anything with mercury glass, and y'all know i loves me some hats.

6. signed the lease for my new apartment, my future first home for eddie and me. i can't wait. it's a two bedroom in the lower east side with an art deco hallway leading to our door. there is no natural light hardly because all the windows face buildings, but we're calling it the rabbit hole. i will truly feel like alice now. and i'm a stones throw away from sugar sweet sunshine, a yummy cupcake bakery. i'm in such trouble!

7. the new lula magazine is in news stands now. every time i see a new issue i feel giddy and celebratory. its jam packed with girlish charm. each page is like a dreamy collage. the collection of photographers and artists who contribute have always been on my list of inspiration . each issue is the most beautiful collision of thoughts and imagery and sentiment. swoon.

stay golden, my children...15 september 2008

and this is why haynes riley makes me smile. he is one of my favorite artists and a dear friend since our art school days in savannah, georgia. he speaks about art in a pure, altruistic way, like he's thinking out loud and not caring who is listening. i wish my thoughts were as poetic as his. here is what he wrote about the piece he created. and the photo is of his mother, marilyn and her sister. they are twins. like haynes and his brother hunter.


"it is supposed to be about "my process" of creativity. i explain it by saying I just GO and enjoy myself. I let the visual and idea drive the piece, while using a grid and other design techniques. but mainly it is about the joy of designing. I think the gold represents what it does in that Robert Frost poem that they recite in The Outsides: when Johnny says "I think I know what that guy meant when he said nothing gold can stay." and then Johnny continues, "like when were younger, that's gold. and the way you dig sunsets Pony Boy, that's gold"

when dawn turns into day, nothing gold can stay. i need to find this exact poem and quote it correctly.

what do you guys think? actually, what do you guys feel?

haynes"

and this is one of my favorite things about haynes. after working together for ten hours at the stores, grumpy and tired, he sends me something like this. thanks haynes riley.

dear eddie...14 september 2008

my darling man,

i am so grateful for you every day. i'm counting down the days until you move here. all day long i think about how happy you make me. i can't wait to move into the new apartment so i can practice my wifely skills. kristen dearden is going to teach me how to make you a proper italian dinner. amy merrick promises to come over and help me cook a manly breakfast (even though i know how proud you are of your fried egg and bacon talent). hopefully meagan bennett will give me a cupcake baking crash tutorial. i am going to make a conscious effort to start making my bed, cleaning the bathroom, and maybe vacuuming once in a while. i know you aren't marrying me for my domestic skills... but i can't wait to acquire them.

i will make us coffee in the morning so we always have something to start the day off right.
i will make you brownbag lunches to take to law school so you have at least something to look forward to during the day.
i will go see a drive-by-truckers concert with you sometime, even though i feel like i paid my dues with p-groove, allman brothers, and lynyrd skynyrd.
i will scratch your back at night before you fall asleep, because i know it makes you happy.
i will make an effort to get one weekend off during football season so we can go see a game in athens together.
i will happily fall asleep to the sounds of cnn, for i will be a much more informed citizen with you here.
i will make an effort to contain my little girl aesthetic to one part of the apartment. and i will find a spot for your knowshon moreno painting. well...i will try.
i will spend the rest of my life trying to make you as happy as you make me.

oh i am so madly in love with you and i can't wait for you to move here. always and forever, my love.